Departure
by Dreamin'Ferno
Summary: Yeager and his beloved daughters, Droite and Gauche, say their final farewells.


**A/N**: Actually, this is my first fic ever! Yeager and the girls definitely don't get the credit as they deserve. I purposely tried to make Yeager's English a _little_ funky. I assure you, I can speak English XD. And if it wouldn't have resulted in making my story weird, I would totally have put stars at the end of Droite's sentences, lawl! Anyway R'N'R if you would be so kind. Enjoy! :)

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"…Gauche, Droite."

"Yes, Yeager?" voiced the two young girls in unison, walking gracefully out of a white puff of smoke. They bowed identically while the pearly wisps twirled around them and dissolved in the air. The man smiled at the sight. How reverent his beloved girls acted in their father's presence! He walked up to them, echoes of footsteps reverberating against the cavernous, marble walls of Zaude. The room was entirely blue and casted a pale, azure glow on everything within it.

The childish sibling looked up, puzzled at the lack of reply. She was met with an elbow jab from her sister.

"Show some respect, Droite!"

"No, no, it is alright," Yeager replied, "please rise, my darlings."

Obediently they stood up, rapiers in hand, readily awaiting further instruction. Instead of the usual command of information gathering, or perhaps threatening an enemy, Yeager stood elegantly with his arms behind his back. Although a smile most admiring crossed his face, his eyes held a hint of grief.

"Is something the matter, my Lord?" asked the calmer sister, Gauche.

"W—we didn't do something bad, did we!?"

Yeager tossed a lock of his dark bangs and chuckled. "Not in ze least! My perfect girls, you could never do anything other zan perfect." Although their Lord Yeager customarily pampered the girls with affectionate compliments, the sisters could tell Yeager was weighted by something unseen.

There was a pause before Gauche asked, hesitantly, "Then what is it, Boss?"

His smile fell to a somber expression.

"Yeah, does it have to do with this palace room? You've never summoned me'n Sis here before."

Yeager contemplated his words before speaking. "Gauche, Droite—I have an important request to ask ze both of you."

They waited for him to finish.

"I… am going to be needing your weapons."

"Huh? They're fine, though." Droite tilted her head and examined her emerald sword, her jagged, chartreuse bangs lopping in her face. "Nope, nothin' wrong with mine!"

"Lord Yeager," Gauche firmed her grip on her ruby rapier, "Brave Vesperia will show up any minute and they're all fools, but—but in case you find yourself unable to escape, I don't see Brave Vesperia letting you get away again—"

"Ja, I am aware, Gauche. Which is why I cannot have you fighting aside me zis time."

"But we can take 'em, Yeager!" Droite's enthusiastic pleads were met with a stale glare from Yeager. It worried both the sisters.

He sighed, "You both 'ave done more for zis man zan he could have ever asked of you. My only request zis time is that you stay out of zis single battle."

The scarlet-haired sister pondered his reply. Her worst fear surfaced to her mind. "My Lord, you're not—you're not planning on leaving us, are you?"

"What? Gauche! How can you say that? Yeager needs us, right, Boss?"

Yeager was silent.

"Boss would never! He—He wouldn't…" Droite found herself unable to finish her sentence just as Yeager found himself unable to begin his. He aimed his gaze to the ornate ceiling above, unable to look at the pair of round eyes staring at him, now brimming with tears. Once he began to hear their snivels and sobbing hiccups, Yeager opened his arms and sealed them around the girls' small, shuddering frames. Their arms embraced his waist as crystal rapiers clattered to the marble.

"How—How can you abandon us right now?"

"Commandant Alexei promised us a future where—"

"Alexei is a delusional _imbicile_." Yeager interrupted in spite. There was a moment of harsh silence.

"Then why are you sacrificing yourself for his cause? Why are you just throwing your life away for him?!" Gauche blurted out, tensing her hold on her Lord.

"I, too, had used to be blinded with such trivial ambitions that I, at ze time, would 'ave readily died for."

"Then…why?"

Yeager smiled through his heartache as he looked into the two round faces of his beloved girls.

"Because now, I have not a reason to conquer—but to protect." He brushed a lock of curls behind Gauche's ear and smoothed the cheek of Droite with the palm of his hand. "Protect ze girls I love—my daughters."

"You just…"

"Your…"

The rare addressing of the siblings as his daughters sent them both into stutters. He stroked their backs, feeling their soft heartbeats against his chest. For the first time, he realized just how much he missed feeling the pulse of his own.

_"Woof! Woof!"_

_"Got something, Repede?"_

Voices echoed from hallways away. The family glanced in the direction of the sudden noise.

"Please, Father! All of us, we can run away," persisted Gauche.

"Dad, come on! We need you!" Droite clung to the fabric of her father's coat. Again, Yeager chuckled bitterly and shook his head. He took each a small shoulder in his hand and stood the twins at arms' length.

"I am so sorry, mein Liebchen." Yeager said. Droite spotted their two fallen swords and retrieved them, handing the ruby one to her sister. They each cradled their treasured rapiers, pouting. Yeager finally gave in, "I suppose I shall let you keep your swords. To remember me, ja?" He stroked their arms as he spoke to them, "Zere is also something else I must give to you, zat I had been meaning to for a very long time." The siblings looked at eachother in question. Yeager quickly led them from the center of the spacious room to behind one of the tall columns that lined it. A titanium bow with elegant brass accents rested upright against it.

"A bow, Yeager?"

"This, Droite, is more zan just a simple bow." Yeager picked up the weapon from its leaning position. "Zis bow belonged to someone whom I also cared very deeply about. I would like ze both of you to keep it." Yeager informed, delivering it to open hands. The twins held it gingerly between them and gazed up at Yeager.

"Do you mean Casey—"

_"Grrrrr..."_

_"Get out here. You're too old for hide-and-seek."_

Yeager grimaced and took a final glance at the girls. "Auf Wiedersehen, my beloved Gauche, and my darling Droite." He pressed a loving kiss atop each their heads.

"Father, we—we love you!"

And then the sisters ran for the exit. Yeager admired his girls until they vanished with the distance. He breathed a deep sigh, dabbed away the wetness from under his eyes, and approached the figures mingling in the center of the room.

_Clap, clap, clap._ "Bravo! Bravo, my lad."


End file.
